Dean Mistler has a BS and a Masters in Art Education from Indiana University. I am a retired Art Educator with the New Albany-Floyd County Schools with 37 years experience in the teaching of art plus 30 years with the Louisville Visual Arts Association teaching art classes.

What do you hope your students take away from your class?

I want any student who enters my class to have a more complete idea of the basics of art through the introduction and reintroduction of the basic elements and principles of art. Art is very much common sense and every assignment is designed for the student to learn something specific. I will then build on that idea with another assignment and possibly another till the idea is fully comprehended. Every 10 week session has an overall "theme". It might be the element of line, the study of color, it all relates to the basics.

What is your favorite thing to teach and why?

I love to show students how the study of the art elements is a way of showing that every element that is added is a way of further defining an object or an idea. I use the analogy of building a house. A 2X4 is a line, 4 2X4's nailed together create a shape and 4 such structures form a room or a 3-D space, color defines the space more, other features can add texture and we move on with that idea in mind.